Felix practically fell onto the small patch of grass that the hillside offered when Olga finally gave the order to stop and rest. Walking wasn’t easy for him under the best of circumstances. The ache of having been the recipient of Rupert’s angry fists the night before and having a good amount of their belongings strapped to his back only hindered him more. Even so, he had no intention of complaining. He knew that his aunt and Kendra were toting the bulk of their belongings on their back as they took turns pulling the overloaded wagon. He was also well aware that Kendra had an injured foot. Not to mention the fact that he knew that she’d experienced a fitful night with minimal sleep; which was understandable after Rupert’s almost rape.
“Where will this lead us?” he asked as he wiped the sweat from his brow and the back of his neck.
“It’s awfully close to zombie land,” Kendra said.
“I didn’t know that,” Olga confessed as she eased her body down next to Felix. “Geography was never my strong point.”
“Are we safe?” Felix worriedly asked.
“We’re not in zombie land. Just near it,” Kendra assured him.
Olga’s tone was a mixture of teasing, fear, and sarcasm. “Do the zombies obey the boundary lines?”
“Let’s hope so,” Kendra grunted as she struggled to pull the wagon to the top of the slight incline. “I’m more worried about getting as far away from that cave as I can than I am the zombies. I don’t trust Rupert not to turn us in.”
“They’d seize him too, wouldn’t they?” Felix asked. “He’s related. Didn’t you say they were after all of the relatives.”
“If they can get the daughter or the sister… or both, they won’t bother with nephews,” Olga sighed. “I imagine he’s figured that out. Rupert is a disappointment, but he’s not stupid.” She got up and helped Kendra pull the cart out of a small rut. “As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with you. We need to get as far away from here as possible.”
“Maybe we should venture into zombie land,” Kendra mused. “They won’t expect us to be there.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Felix asked, incredulously.
“If we stay close to the edge, we shouldn’t encounter too many,” Kendra said. “I’ve been hunting around here quite a bit and have yet to encounter one.”
“You’ve been lucky,” Felix sniffed.
“Do you really think that they stay within the invisible boundaries?” Kendra asked. “We could have just as easily had one wander into our cave in the middle of the night. We weren’t that far from the border, after all.”
“I had no idea,” Olga said with amazement. “Had I known, I would have never settled us there.”
“It was still an easy ninety minute walk from our cave to the border of zombie land,” Kendra mused. “Dragging a heavy carcass with an injured foot made it even longer. I’m just saying that, in such an isolated area, there is no one to stop them from migrating if there were any around to do so. I don’t think that they’re near the border. I think they’re deeper in toward the heart of the zombie area.”
“This is where you killed the cats?” Felix said with surprise.
“Not far from here,” Kendra said as she dropped down next to her cousin. “I just need a few minutes to catch my breath and then I’m good again.”
“Felix and I won’t be good for an easy twenty minutes,” Olga assured her. “His club foot and my old age keep us from being as fit as you.”
Kendra nodded and laid back. A short nap was just the thing to rejuvenate her. Her body ached from the exertion of dragging the wagon, but she knew that, of the three of them, even with her injured foot, she was the most fit without her aunt pointing it out to her. She didn’t want to admit to them that the stress of the almost rape, sleepless night, and demands on her body that the wagon caused were overly taxing. She was thankful that she didn’t have to and could take advantage of the fact that they needed the break.
Olga’s conversation with Felix about where to settle quickly faded as her body went into sleep mode. It felt as if she’d just closed her eyes when Felix’s hand gently shook her shoulder to awaken her. She was both surprised and alarmed to note that the sun’s position had shifted considerably.
“What time is it?” she gasped.
“We let you sleep,” Olga smiled.
Felix chuckled. “You were snoring.”
Kendra sat up and began to secure her oversized and fully loaded backpack onto her back. “We need to get moving. It will be dark soon.”
“I thought that we could just make camp here for the night,” Olga said as she pointed to the make-shift lean-to and the fire pit she and Felix had fashioned at its opening.
“Are you kidding?” Kendra gasped as Ari’s image floated into her mind. “We’re not in a safe area.”
Deep lines formed in the flesh of Felix’s sun kissed face as he scowled with confusion. “We’re not even in zombie land. Why is this not safe when you suggested that we make a home in zombie land?”
“It’s not the zombies that I’m worried about,” Kendra admitted. “This is close to where I killed the cats. The owners might be about and looking for them.”
Olga groaned. “You could have mentioned that when we stopped.”
“I thought that we were only going to rest a few minutes, not a few hours,” Kendra grumbled.
“Three hours, actually,” Felix interjected.
“It’s too late to move on now,” Olga said. “It isn’t worth the trouble of packing up. We’d have to stop to make camp soon.” She heaved a sigh. “We’ll have to hope for the best.”
She was unhappy with the turn of events, but Kendra knew that her aunt spoke the truth. It was less than an hour from sunset. It made no sense to continue on.
She went to the wagon and pulled out the container that she’d packed their meat into. “Let’s hang this meat next to the fire. It wasn’t completely ready to pack away and I don’t want to lose it to spoilage.”
Felix was quick to assist her while Olga started a fire in their recently fashioned fire pit. Her eyes nervously scanned their perimeter while she worked the fire starter.
With their bodies exhausted and their nerves frayed from the drama and tension of the last few days, they ate a cold, light meal of jerky and raw carrots that they washed down with pine needle tea before they called it a day alongside the setting sun.Since the only protection they had was their make-shift lean-to, it was decided that they would take turns keeping watch for predators or zombies during the night. The fire was reduced to glowing embers to prevent attracting attention, should there be someone or something in the vicinity, but it was warm enough in the season for them not to need a fire for comfort.Because Kendra was rejuvenated by her extended nap, she offered to take the first watch. Her aunt and cousin were asleep before she’d managed to settle into position for her task. She watched their chests move up and down to the rhythm of their steady breathing and sighed. Regret for not dealing with Rupert in a different way consumed her. She&rsquo
Kendra thought that she’d slept very little that night. So, she was surprised to discover her aunt and Rex sitting by a roaring campfire while enjoying fresh, hot pine tea and some good conversation. How did she miss her aunt getting to know him enough to trust that it was safe to release him? She’d kept one ear on the alert, hadn’t she?“You look like a frightened rabbit,” Olga teased as Kendra slowly approached them.“More like a frightened squirrel come down from the tree,” Rex knowingly chuckled.“You saw me?” Kendra gasped.“I did,” he nodded.A scowl consumed the smooth, sun kissed flesh of her oval face, but it in no way diminished Rex’s appreciation of her beauty. “Why didn’t you say something?” Before he could answer, she raced away from the camp while informing them that she had to pee, but she’d be back in a jiffy and expected an explanation.
Felix proved to be a greater help than even he could imagine. More than once, Rex praised him for his show of strength and stamina as they battled their way up the steep hillside with the heavily laden wagon.Olga worriedly monitored their progress, but said nothing. She’d overprotected her nephew because of his deformity for his entire life. She could see now that it wasn’t a necessary thing to have done.Felix was born while they were huddled together like eggs in an egg carton in the bomb shelter. The birth was a long and complicated one. It resulted in a damaged foot for him and death for his mother. Having assisted with the birthing, Olga carried a heavy guilt over what had happened. It didn’t matter that none of them were trained for such an event and that they’d managed to save Felix even if they couldn’t save his mother. She kept wondering if someone else in the group might have done it bet
Ari scowled as she kicked at the rocks that made up the well-used fireplace. Cold ashes billowed a few feet into the air before settling on and around her boots.“You should have followed her home that day,” Baelil complained.“I don’t know what good coming back here does,” Ari moaned. “It’s been weeks.”“I just thought that we should keep an eye on the place. Maybe she’ll return. You never know.”“You’re right,” Ari sighed. “You’re always right. I shouldn’t have come home that day. I should have followed her. I just didn’t see the urgency. I also thought that maybe, if she met you, she’d warm up to us better. Never in a million years did it enter my mind that meeting me would spook her so much that she’d pack up and move.”“I just sent for Denai. She should be here soon,” Baelil sai
Denai was riding directly into the sun’s glaring rays. She leaned forward in the saddle -far enough to take advantage of the shadows cast by the leaves of the few trees that had managed to regain enough life in them to produce a decent foliage cap- in hopes of getting a more focused look at the couple standing on the boulder. If she was seeing correctly, it was Baelil and his sister, Ari.A low moan of displeasure escaped her lips, but she was careful to subdue it before it grew loud enough to attract the attention of Max, who she’d asked to accompany her on the three hour journey there.“I see Baelil,” Max said as he pulled his equally powerful horse up beside Danai’s Black Friesian beast. “It looks like his sister’s with him.”“She’s the one who met up with the girl a few weeks back,” Danai muttered.Max shook his head. “Yet, here we are. It just goes to show
Kendra sat in the library with the book, The Hobbit, opened on her lap. When Rex had first shown the room that was lined with books to her, she’d been both intimidated and overwhelmed. She was taught to read by Olga, but the availability of reading material was limited. Therefore, her reading skills were wanting.To add to her frustration. Rex had been raised around enough books that he was a very adept reader. For the first few days, he had to coax her into the library and then convince her to explore the inventory. Eventually her insecurity and humiliation over her poor reading skills were replaced by an enthusiasm and notable improvement in her ability to decipher the meanings of the words on a page. Within a few weeks, her companions were hard pressed to pull her nose out of a book.The fact that the library was a complete literary treasure trove only added to the situation. Where she stood in intimidated confusion while fearful to
Kendra walked past Rex with her head held so high that she didn’t notice the look of amused anticipation on his strong, handsome face. He waited for her to get a few yards ahead of him before he stepped off of the porch to follow her. He was startled to see the look of approval on Olga’s face as she watched from the window as he disappeared behind the house. Was that look because of her pride in Kendra’s prowess with a bow? Or, was there something more behind it?He’d grown close to Olga and considered her a friend. Even so, he’d shied away from discussing his feelings for her niece. After all, Olga was more like a mother than an aunt and, therefore, was protective of Kendra like a mother would be. He wasn’t worried about her rejecting him because of the nuclear exposure that he’d experienced as a youth. He didn’t consider the bit of damage that it did to his digestive and neurological system enough
Olga brooded over Rex’s obvious foul mood as she watched him walk with aggressive deliberation to where the zombie lay. He grabbed it by its feet and dragged it into the trees before heading back to the fence to continue pounding the post into the ground. Things clearly didn’t go as she’d hoped between him and Kendra. Did the foolish girl refuse him? She’d watched the way he looked at her as well as the way she looked at him. She could have sworn that they were equally attracted to each other. What happened.As she headed out the door to assist Rex with the fencing, she made a mental note to have a talk with Kendra. She needed to understand that men like Rex wouldn’t be coming about one after the other. They were lucky that he came along at all. Rejecting him was a foolish move even if she didn’t have feelings for him; which she was sure that the girl did.“I have to say that I’m impres